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Helping my 6yo hear blends correctly.


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I need some help. My 6 year old is having trouble with some beginning blends. She sometimes hears tr as ch, dr as gr, and it seems like she had one more she was struggling with, but it's slipping my mind. Like today the picture in her book stood for "drag," but she started to spell it, "jrag." We stopped and said it verrrrry slow and tried to enunciate clearly and she realized her mistake. How else can I help her? We are going to do word webs with a sound in the middle and words that start with that sound all around. Any other ideas? Is this something that will get better as she reads and spells these words more often?

 

Also, I hope I posted this in the right place. :)

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Is this something that will get better as she reads and spells these words more often?

 

For my first grader who did something similar (writing tree as "chree" is the one I'm remembering now, but for awhile there we had some super-cute spellings!), yes, this is what happened.

 

When I say words like "drag", especially in normal speech, I would think that your daughter might be transcribing the blend more accurately than the actual spelling. I think you have the right idea about noticing when she is hearing something different than the actual spelling, and then coming up with words together than have the same spelling. ("It often sounds like jrag, you're right! It's actually "drag". Like drink! What other words start with dr....?")

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If she continues to struggle you might get her screened for Central Auditory Processing issues (sometimes called APD or CAPD). An audiologist can do an audio booth screening. Doesn't mean her hearing is bad. She just may be processing certain sounds/blends she hears inefficiently or inaccurately. There are ways to help that but knowing exactly where the glitches are is a tremendous help in addressing those glitches effectively.

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Most English speakers automatically turn t and d into "ch" and "j" before the r sound. You probably do it too, but you just don't realize!

 

When my girls went through that stage, I simply told them "If you hear 'chr', we write it as 'tr'. I know how it sounds, but the rule is that we write that sound with the letters 'tr'. We never put c-h-r together that way."

 

If your only issue is that she's spelling drag with a j and truck with a ch, then I would suggest this is not an auditory processing issue and does not need intervention. Just tell her the correct way to spell those sounds.

 

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Lindamood-Bell LiPS can help if there is a bigger issue with phonemic discrimination than just a couple of phonemes. Not saying that the OP's daughter needs it, but just wanted to throw out the recommendation in case it helps someone.

 

Seconding LiPS. It gives labels to the sounds that call attention to the feeling in the mouth, position of tongue and lips, and whether it's a voiced or unvoiced sound. For example, "t" is a "tip tapper" while "ch" is "fat pushed air." You use a mirror to help see the difference as well.

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This is one of the things my son was in speech therapy for.  For my ds, it didn't rise to the level of a processing disorder, but he did need some help learning how to distinguish sounds.  The remedy that was given was that the speech therapist would give him pictures of things that sounded alike (for example van and fan).  She would cover her mouth and say the word (so he couldn't lip read), and he would have to point to the picture of the word.  If got 50% right, then he was guessing.  She wanted him at 80% before moving on to the next set of sounds.  If you google "minimal pairs," you can find some pictures to work with on your own. 

 

But if the problem persists, I agree with a PP to get her evaluated for a processing disorder.

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For my first grader who did something similar (writing tree as "chree" is the one I'm remembering now, but for awhile there we had some super-cute spellings!), yes, this is what happened.

 

When I say words like "drag", especially in normal speech, I would think that your daughter might be transcribing the blend more accurately than the actual spelling. I think you have the right idea about noticing when she is hearing something different than the actual spelling, and then coming up with words together than have the same spelling. ("It often sounds like jrag, you're right! It's actually "drag". Like drink! What other words start with dr....?")

 

It's so relieving to hear someone else say their kid has done the same thing! When I thought about the way we talk I could totally understand how she comes up with these spellings. I tried to be positive. I told her it really does sound like that, but that's not how it's spelled. It's tricky sometimes. We have a southern accent, so I'm constantly having to slow us down on certain words. I was laughing so hard inside the first time she sounded out "get" and had no clue what word she was saying. We are guilty of saying it "git."

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If she continues to struggle you might get her screened for Central Auditory Processing issues (sometimes called APD or CAPD). An audiologist can do an audio booth screening. Doesn't mean her hearing is bad. She just may be processing certain sounds/blends she hears inefficiently or inaccurately. There are ways to help that but knowing exactly where the glitches are is a tremendous help in addressing those glitches effectively.

 

Thanks for the advice! I've never heard of this. Do you know any other signs of this? Or should I just keep an eye on if she improves with practice?

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Most English speakers automatically turn t and d into "ch" and "j" before the r sound. You probably do it too, but you just don't realize!

 

When my girls went through that stage, I simply told them "If you hear 'chr', we write it as 'tr'. I know how it sounds, but the rule is that we write that sound with the letters 'tr'. We never put c-h-r together that way."

 

If your only issue is that she's spelling drag with a j and truck with a ch, then I would suggest this is not an auditory processing issue and does not need intervention. Just tell her the correct way to spell those sounds.

 

Once I slowed down to help her, and really started hearing myself, I realized it really does sound that way! Now every word I say that starts with those blends I notice it, haha. I'll definitely have to tell her that rule. That's a good idea.

 

I'll probably look up auditory processing issues, because I'm paranoid now. I'm hoping with practice she'll get it down. It's intimidating to think she could have something like that going on. 

 

Thanks!

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